Reviews
I guess my obsession in life is gadgets. I love mobile phones and PDA's and the new Ultra Mobile Laptops. If its new shiny, electronic and small I probably want one. I've bought so many mobiles over the past couple of years I have a large drawer full of the things and on this page I'm going to heartlessly review them.

3 SkypePhone S2

I eagerly awaited the updated version of 3’s very successful SkypePhone and was in my local 3 Shop on the day of release, cash in hand. My initial impression was very favourable. A little larger than its’ predecessor the S1 but still quite small for a feature packed block phone. The rubbery outer case of the old model replaced with shiny stainless steel and a look very similar to Sony Eriksson’s recent models – including the slim “bar” style buttons. I was a little wary of the tiny buttons, having enormous hands, but in practice found them much easier to use than my Nokia N82. The battery looked worryingly anonymous and has proven one of the weaker features of the phone – being logged into Skype 24-7 drains the battery life and I’ve found myself charging the phone nightly.



The spec. for the S2 is pretty fair – a 3.2 megapixel camera, HSDPA and support for Micro SD cards – although not exceptional. Where the S2 really scores, and I think this is true of 3 phones in general, is the fully integrated web content. Skype and various messengers are all available from the “Quicklinks” menu, as was FaceBook which I know is popular with a whole generation. Planet 3 and My 3 both working with HSDPA swiftness and offering a range of 3 features, news and information.

I’m very fond of Skype and this of course was my main reason for upgrading my original SkypePhone. Logging in and using Skype was easy and I even set up a new Skype account just to test the wizard process and it worked seamlessly and as easily as if I were on my PC. The software for Skype on the 3 SkypePhone is provided by an excellent little company called iSkoot who offer their product free for suitable smartphones. I’ve tried the iSkoot product on my Nokia’s and it works excellently there too.



Having everything you could want for internet communication “straight from the box” is very appealing and I love how well 3 and Skype work together. I used the Facebook application, although I am not really a Facebook user and perhaps didn’t see this application at its best. In fact this review would be a glowing one except...

After a few weeks I noticed problems logging into Skype on the S2. I thought this was perhaps because I hadn’t put credit on the phone (it being Pay As You Go) but even after filling it with credit the Skype program robustly refused to work. “Connection Error” was the daily staple. I phoned the keen but ultimately unhelpful 3 Help Desk and concluded it was really not a hardware issue. I could access my Skype account from my PC, Laptops, other mobiles (using iSkoot) but not from the S2. Everything else worked beautifully, the internet, Microsoft Live Messenger, even the Facebook application. After a month the S2 was left unloved and uncharged at home.



Does the S2 get a thumbs down? Well interestingly I tried the phone again this week and it logged into Skype quite without fuss. So perhaps those weeks were it refused to work were an anomaly and the S2 will be fine in future? Like all gadgets lovers I want my tools to just work as described and not work occasionally when they feel in the mood. Would I buy another S2? Certainly if they offered it in a more interesting colour than Black I might be tempted, and I certainly have nothing but praise for Skype, iSkoot and 3 in general. It might well be that I had a rogue phone that just needed to be left “dead” for some months.

BlackBerry 8800

I had the BlackBerry 8800 as my primary work phone for eight months and have been extremely pleased with the build quality, keyboard and screen. Physically the BlackBerry 8800 is a very slick and professional tool. Less impressive are the standard software applications for email and browsing – which is surprising in a gadget built for email and when networks are offering unlimited browsing. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about being an 8800 owner is the extensive range of 3rd party applications which more than make up for any lack on the standard software front.



The BlackBerry 8800 is a “Pearl” phone with a little clickable trackball on the front for accessing all the phones functions on screen. Around the “Pearl” trackball are the standard four BlackBerry buttons – Call, Menu, Back and Hang Up. The menu button opens a context sensitive menu in pretty much any application. The Qwerty keyboard has tiny but perfectly useable keys, even for someone like me with enormous hands. I’ve had no difficulty typing fairly long emails in a “two thumbed” typing mode.

Setting up the phone was an absolute breeze – so easy following the wizards step by step guide and entering email information. My phone was from O2 and using the O2 BIS (BlackBerry Internet Server) for email as I am a single user rather than a Corporation (where the BlackBerry Enterprise Server would be a better option). The basic applications provided with the phone are rather limited but there are an enormous number of add on applications to make life easier. On one hand I’m slightly surprised at BlackBerry for not providing essentials like emails that show hyperlinks rather than ugly URL’s. On the other hand I’m surprised at professional colleagues for sticking with the basics and not investing a few pounds in add on software. I’ve been using BBSmart’s email viewer which is an excellent product and quickly allows you to view images in emails as well as giving clickable links.



The BlackBerry 8800 has only 64Mb for internal memory (which seems rather limited in this age of 32Gb iPhones) but never seemed a limiting factor in practice. The 8800 uses Micro SD cards and I had a SanDisk 8GB card which I filled up with music and, rather less successfully, movies. The QVGA 320 x 240 screen is beautifully clear and has a functional light sensor so the screen always seems to be correctly lit and easy to read. I think it would have worked rather nicely for movies but again the problem was the default software not being up to the task. I finally found a rather nice product from Mobiola which allowed for full screen viewing of movies, but by then I had my Apple iPhone and to be honest rarely watched movies on the 8800. The 2.5mm jack is a pain to find earphones for, and I’m glad that BlackBerry have moved on to supplying 3.5mm jacks on their new releases. Although I should add on the unexpected bonus side the 8800’s built in speakers are really excellent.



The BlackBerry 8800 supports a range of messaging options – from Microsoft Live, AOL, Yahoo, Google etc – as well as the proprietary BlackBerry Messaging system. All work extremely well and the Qwerty keyboard is a pleasure to use. The integration of messaging was a nice surprise, as this was my first BlackBerry. Email, SMS and Instant messaging all working seamlessly together. Although I had looked at the technical specs for the 8800 and thought long and hard about what seemed to be a retrograde step (from the Nokia N82 with HSDPA and a 5 megapixel camera), it’s communications for which BlackBerry are rightly famous.



The built in GPS was a selling feature for me at the time, although I have to say I haven’t really used it much. The BlackBerry Maps feature is probably brilliant for North America but seemed limited compared to Google maps. The GPS also seemed slow and cumbersome compared to my TomTom, but then again in fairness so did my Nokia N82 with it’s built in AGPS which is supposedly better. GPS on the 8800 was adequate for wandering about a strange city (well Manchester) but of course should never be considered as a navigational aid to driving.



Over all my experience of the BlackBerry 8800 has been enormously positive. With a handful of very good games and 3rd party applications it’s been a pleasure to work with.

3 Skype Phone

I bought the "Pay as you go" Skype Phone from a Three shop before Christmas 2007 for just under £50 and have been pretty impressed by the phone it's self and very impressed by the Three implementation.  The phone itself is a 3 branded version of the Amoi 8512, with a dedicated Skype button launching a Skype program by iSkoot which is also available for other phones.

The black version of the phone has a nice "rubbery" feel and is very solid and nicely built. The keys are positive and easy to use even for someone like myself with overly large hands, even thought the phone is really petite. The left soft key is dedicated to the 3 Launch menu and the right soft key opens Planet 3 (which is excellent!). The large central button opens Skype.

One of the nice things about the 3 implementation is "Free Skype calls" when you top up. I have a few friends who swear by Skype - which is a combined messenger and VOIP programme and it was great fun calling them from Starbucks or the train for free and using Skype as a bit of a novice. I know one contractor who bought half a dozen 3 Skype phones for his engineers and kept in touch just using Skype. if you haven't already checked it out you should download Skype now.

The 3 Skype phone has an adequate 2 mega pixel camera which is perfectly ok for snapping the odd curiosity as you commute but isn't a serious camera by any stretch of the imagination.

I liked how many games were available for the 3 Skype Phone once your worked out it was actually the Amoi 8512. Java games have some wonderful titles now and I bought a few from 3 and a few from Gameloft.com (my favourite games website). The nice tactile feel of the phone added to the overall gaming experience and I had a lot of fun with the phone. The screen is nice and bright and the sound quality from the little speaker is really quite good.

Downside? The battery life slowly drained from a standby (with Skype running) of a week to couple of days to less than a day. And, yes I do know about battery life and how to get the most from your battery by recharging appropriately. The fact is that the supplied Amoi battery was really the only substandard part of an otherwise worthy little phone.

Nokia N82 Review

I bought the Nokia N82 as an update for my N79 – mostly as a camera phone but also because I am a huge fan of Nokia’s Symbian operating system. The N82 has lovely build quality except for the strangely plastic front cover which does let down the overall appearance. A sliding cover on the back of the phone slips back to reveal the 5 megapixel camera and tungsten flash. The 2.2 inch screen doubles nicely as a view finder and a dedicated camera button on the side of the phone takes the picture. I was especially interested in the N82 as a camera and the lens (and picture) quality were excellent.

Used as a Smartphone the slim key “bars” really did not work nearly as well as the similar bars on Sony Eriksson phones. I like to use SMS and found the tiny bars frustrating to use and my “txt” messaging because a real chore instead of a pleasure. My frustration with the keyboard peaked on a frosty morning when I was unable to type a 4 digit code to confirm my car parking session. The automated system must have requested the details four or five times and each time I miss hit one of the four keys

If the keyboard had not let me down this phone would be a true world beater. Built in GPS, in its fastest form “AGPS”, good internal memory and support for Micro SD cards, HSDPA and a lovely little web browser. The phone also did the now obligatory screen shift from Portrait to Landscape mode when the screen was turned. Symbian 9.0 has a huge range of 3rd party applications and my N82 was chocked full of great software just hours out of the box.


Excellent for movies and playing MP3’s and with a huge range of games from sites like Gameloft.com. Really this was a lovely little phone with one huge drawback for a Kiwi with large fingers. I found the keyboard truly unusable.